Tomorrow, May 29,
2020, is what used to be referred to in Nigeria as “Democracy Day,” but now it will only serve as the anniversary of President Muhammadu Buhari's regime and that of some state governors. It
is usually a welcome excuse for great celebrations, chest-beating and wild
claims about humongous achievements, many of which exist only in the
imagination of the mostly failed leaders.
*Nigeria Leaders: Jonathan, Obasanjo, Buhari |
Even the term “Democracy
Day” (which is now observed on June 12) is such an excruciating irony in a country where almost all
the features that distinguish democratic societies have been brutally
obliterated, leaving the populace continually trapped in destabilizing
apprehension.
There would, however,
be no parties tomorrow. A hostile, dreaded visitor called Coronavirus is
town! Let’s hope, therefore, that the absence of bacchanals tomorrow will
afford our leaders the conducive atmosphere for deep, sober
reflections, to determine whether they have merely added to the suffering and
pain of the people or helped, even in some little way, to reduce
them.
If
Nigeria is working, we will know! Those were the exact words of late Prof Chinua
Achebe, Africa’s foremost writer and distinguished intellectual. In other
words, the citizens do not need any bogus claims by government’s megaphones to
realise that there is an improvement in their country’s economy because it will
automatically translate to an enhancement in their lives.
And as
they enter the markets to procure their basic needs or engage service providers
for some of those services they just cannot do without, they would certainly
have direct encounters with the “improvements” their country is alleged to have
witnessed. But sadly, what they are still seeing everywhere are benumbing
evidences of further deterioration and the attendant pains – a direct
result of very poor management of their country.
The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a report in March 2019 and announced
that the “Nigerian economy is recovering.” The people who read the
report must have echoed: which Nigeria? The one we live in or another?
“Real
GDP increased by 1.9 per cent in 2018, up from 0.8 per cent in 2017, on the
back of improvements in manufacturing and services…and strides to improve the
business environment,” the IMF crowed.
Now did you just hear
that in this country, there is an “improvement in manufacturing and
services…?” When did the IMF become a body of fiction writers? Could,
somebody, please, ask them to furnish us with specific examples of this
milestone they claim that our country has achieved? Is this not the same
country where companies are folding up or relocating to other places due to the
high cost of doing business caused mainly by the seemingly intractable,
epileptic electric power supply, rising insecurity and unstable policies?
Although, the IMF
moderated its optimism and toned down its report at several sections, those
brazen declarations of unverifiable “recovery” and “improvement” can only be
seen as an advertisement of gross insensitivity to the fragile feelings of
hapless Nigerians trapped in the throes of a battered economy being
progressively compounded by the reckless experimentations of a noisy bunch of
tyros.
One of
the most dreaded phrases in Nigeria of the mid-eighties, specifically, during
the Gen Ibrahim Babangida junta, was “IMF conditionalities” which our country
was required to fulfill at that time to qualify for an IMF loan. Happily,
Nigerians unanimously rejected the poisoned apple. Since then, I have been very
suspicious of the motives of the IMF and whatever it says about any country,
especially, in Africa. Its prescriptions are often killer-pills that plunge the
citizenry into needless sufferings and ultimately set the country on the path
of destablisation.
And so,
when you see them praising any country, just watch out: that country may be
naively or even unwittingly complying with its “conditionalities.”
IMF has
always recommended massive devaluation of the Naira so we could have what
they called, a “realistic value” of our currency; never mind that this will
brutally weaken further the purchasing power of the already impoverished people.
Well,
Nigeria through the howling incompetence of her groping leaders has already
horribly devalued the Naira, probably, far beyond the expectation of the IMF.
Have you tried recently to purchase even the weakest currency out there
with your Naira? That’s how bad it has become!
Another
“conditionality” at that time was the downsizing of the civil service. They
called it the beautiful name, “rightsizing.” Already, many state governments
are almost on that excruciating path as they threaten to drastically reduce the
public service population if they must pay the meagre N30, 000 Minimum Wage.
Many workers have already been frustrated out of the civil service by very poor
working conditions and the tormenting experience of being laden with mountains
of unpaid salaries. Some have even been “retrenched” by death due to inability
to feed themselves and care for their health as their callous and profligate
governors withhold their salaries.
The
other “conditionality,” the introduction of school fees in the universities, is
already operational at the state universities and partially at the federal
institutions while the rationalisation of courses which has been on the cards
is already being partially implemented. So, the IMF is already
winning in Nigeria. The “conditionalities” they handed down to us in the
eighties are already enjoying full implementation. It has always insisted that
the implementation of these measures represent the fact that we are already on
the path of progress. Does that make even the slightest sense to
you?
The real,
killer “conditionality”, however, is the total absence of subsidies which
is gradually showing its egregious head, and may become fully manifest
soon as the nation’s worst nightmare, especially, in the
prices of petroleum products – even though there was a slight
downward review of the pump price of petrol recently due to slump in the price
of crude oil in the international market. Already, we are hearing about what
they call “over consumption” of petrol by Nigerians which subsidy
removal will effectively check. Sometimes, I wonder what would have
been our fate if ours were not an oil-producing country.
Certainly,
many Nigerians will soon park their cars at home because of inability to fuel
them, and in a country with a chaotic transportation system. Given that most
commercial outfits and service providers rely on petrol to remain in business
due to the intimidating crisis in the electricity sector, Nigerians should,
therefore, be ready for the worst times in a “recovering economy” because the
price of goods and services would certainly ascend beyond the reach of many
Nigerians.
By the
way, why is this anti-subsidy pill always appearing like an “Only-For-Africa”
solution? Why are they are not breathing down the necks of other countries that
are heavily subsidising education, healthcare and several other services for
their own citizens?
In
Kuwait, for instance, government provides free medical care for its nationals.
They are also trying to establish what they call “expat-only hospitals and
clinics” which will serve the health needs of expatriates with health insurance
coverage. And their hospitals are of very high standard.
In
neighboring Saudia Arabia, the same “completely free” medical services are
offered to Saudi nationals. Even near us here in Seychelles,
government has put in place a system that ensures that sick citizens receive
free medical treatment.
The same
system is operational in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Bhutan (which even moves
serious cases to Indian hospitals for treatment at government’s expense) and
several other countries which Nigeria may even be far richer than. In
Spain, government “provides a public universal health
care system for all citizens and, under certain conditions, also,
non-citizens. Healthcare is free except for co-payments in some products and
services; it is mostly paid from the Social Security budget.”
Why are
the IMF and World Bank so determined to keep stampeding governments
in African nations into presenting themselves continually as enemies of their
people?
What of
education? Several countries in Europe offer free education, except for some
minimal fees (charged in some countries), and in several cases, international
students also benefit from this. In Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Finland,
for instance, you have world-class tuition-free universities (which
international students also benefit from).
So what
is all this fetish about the total absence of subsidies as the sole panacea for
economic growth? Has the economies of these countries collapsed because they
are offering subsidised essential services to their people (and even
foreigners)?
Indeed, Nigeria’s
problem very is far from the crazy speculations of the IMF and the World Bank.
Nigeria’s problem is the crude mediocrity, incompetence and pervasive
corruption which our leaders have instituted as an essential character of
governance.
Removing subsidies
(which will end up in private pockets, any way, if they really exist) and
unleashing more crushing pain and suffering on Nigerians will not revive the
economy. We tried it with the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the
Babangida junta, where did it take Nigeria to? But our government will readily
embrace that prescription because it will relieve it of its responsibility towards
Nigerians.
Is it not very sad that despite being widely regarded as the richest
country in Africa, the Nigerian government seems to derive immense pleasure
from flaunting the country as poor, helpless and beggarly? If her resources are
not continuously mismanaged and looted by her leaders, shouldn’t several
African countries by now be looking up to Nigeria for help, especially, in
desperate and trying times such as the one the world is in now?
But the sad situation
is that even the most leanly-endowed African countries have since left Nigeria
very far behind in the area of provision of basic amenities for their people.
For instance, whereas other African country have since achieved reasonable
stability in power supply, Nigeria is still very far behind, struggling with
debilitating darkness and has remained the proud, pathetic dumping ground for
mostly substandard power generating sets from China. The same goes for
provision of potable water, another sector in which government has failed so
woefully. If the Nigerian government is allowed, it would beg for alms from
places like Somalia, Eritrea, Central African Republic and Liberia – countries
that made the list of Africa’s ten poorest countries!
Look at what is
happening in Nigeria because of the presence of Covid-19 in the country. Unable to respond to
the all important need of feeding its people rendered incapable of earning a
living by the recent lockdown, a problem that even countries Nigeria is
supposed to be richer than had managed so amazingly, the Buhari regime hastened
to ease the restrictions at a time the number of infected persons was rising
alarmingly!
The Nigerian
government should look for thoroughly educated Nigerians with
sound understanding of the country's economy, who know how to navigate it
out of the woods, and stop hiding its incompetence, confusion and failures
behind “reports,” “recommendations” and suspicious “commendations” from a
gaggle of confused foreign “experts.”
We can solve our
problems if we sincerely wish to.
*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
is a Nigerian Journalist and Writer (scruples2006@yahoo.com;
twitter:@ugowrite)
God will safe us in this country
ReplyDeleteOur electoral system should be looked into.
ReplyDelete